last light

10. Chapter 10: More Freedom

"Renesmee," Esme said. “We have a surprise for you and Jacob.” It had been two weeks since I asked Esme to build a house for Renesmee, Jacob, and the babies. They had worked day and night to get it done rapidly.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise,” Esme said. “But fallow me. Bella, Edward, would you like to come?”

“Yes we would,” Edward said.

We ran outside. To my surprise we started to head toward the other side of the house, not toward the cottage. Esme then made a turn toward the forest. We head that direction for about the same amount of time it would take to get from the cottage to the house. Esme stopped.

There in front of us was this beautiful two storied house. There was a window on both sides of the door, above those windows there was another set of windows. In between those windows was a balcony. The house was blue with white trim.

There was a path way that led to the white door. In front of the house was white rose bushes. There was also a tree on the front lawn with a swing hanging from a branch. On the other side of the tree was a ladder that led to the enormous tree house.

“Esme,” Renesmee said, her eyes filled with tears. Jacob tried to put his arm around her and the sleeping CB, but the wiggly EJ wouldn’t let him. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“Bella thought that you guys should have some more space,” Edward said. “Now that you two have a family of your own. If you want to visit us head toward the west of the tree and run till you find the cottage.”

“Mom, Dad,” she said. “It’s going to be so hard moving out.”

“But so much better,” I said. “Not just for you, but for us too.” I tangled my hand with Edward’s hand.

“How will it be better?” Nessie asked.

“Nessie,” Jacob said. “Remember what Edward said? We aren’t allowed to fool around under his roof. Now we have our own roof. That means we can do what ever we want.”

Jacob was already thinking of possibilities that they could do under their own roof without me or Edward walking in or biting Jacob’s head off.

“My roof,” I said. “It will also let Edward and I have some privacy too.”

“Speaking of privacy, your stuff is all moved in,” he said this without lifting his eyes off me. “We will see you tomorrow.” Edward swept me off my feet and headed for the cottage as fast as he could.

When we got to the cottage he headed to our room, so that we would have a bed. But we didn’t get to the bed. We just made it into our room.

“It’s so quite,” I said after a while. We weren’t keeping up a conversation; it was just different with out Nessie and Jacob here.

“Well, there’s all the times when we heard something brake,” I paused remembering. “Or their heart beats and their breathing. Or the times when Jacob would sneak out at night to see what someone wanted, Nessie would always come here after she noticed he was gone . . .”

“And would demand for an explanation,” Edward finished.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s those little things I miss.”

“I know what you mean,” he said.

We just sat there thinking of all the times Nessie would almost walk in on us. In seemed silly that I would miss that stuff, but I did miss it.

I was so lost in thought I barely noticed that the pound outside of are room turned a pearl color. Edward was the one to remind me that now we could see Nessie.

“Bella,” he said. “It’s the morning. Knowing the babies Nessie and Jacob are already up. This means . . .”

“I can bite Jacob’s head off?” I said.

“Well yes that and . . .”

“We can see Nessie,” I smiled.

“Right,” Edward said. He then kissed the tip of my nose.

We got up I was going to put on the clothes I had on last night but they were kind of shredded.

“Edward,” I said really irritated.

“Yes?”

“What happened here?” I pointed to my shredded clothes.

“It looks like your clothes are no match for me,” he said with a smile.

“Thanks a lot,” I was still irritated.

“What?” he was so confused.

“Those were the last normal clothes I had.”

“No they weren’t,” he seemed smug.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Fallow me,” he said. He took me to the back of his side of our closet. He reached in behind his stuff and pulled out a pair of light blue jeans and a blue V-neck sweater. “Alice hid these in Nessie’s room. She knew sooner or latter you would run out of clothes that you liked so you would have to wear the ones that she got you.”

“Thanks,” I said. “But how did you get the clothes here without her knowing about it?”

“I did it when she was concentrating on what would happen with the Volturi and the kidnappers.”

I stopped with the questions and put my clothes on. Edward put on a pair of blue jeans too and a white oxford shirt. He looked so beautiful.

He looked at me and smiled that crooked smile that I love. “Shall we go to the house and see if Nessie and Jacob are there?”

“Yes,” I said.

We ran back to the house hand in hand.

My favorite part about being a vampire was that I could be with Edward forever, forever, and forever. I knew that Edward and I would be together forever, but I never thought I would have a baby with Edward. I still cannot believe that I get to be a vampire, have Nessie, and have Edward too.

We soon got to the house. Before we went in Edward stopped us.

“What?” I asked.

“We should go back to the cottage for a few minutes,” he said.

“Why?” I looked into his eyes.

“On second thought you look kind of thirsty,” he brushed his fingers under my right eye. “Let’s go hunting.”

“Do you promise to explain everything?” I asked him.

“Yes, I promise.” He tugged on my hand and pulled me back toward the cottage.

We got to the cottage and went to our closet and pulled out our hunting clothes. Mine were a pair of light jean shorts, a white tank top, and a pair of tennis shoes. Edward put on another pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and tennis shoes also.

“Where are we hunting today?” I asked him, he will explain everything later.

“Do you want to go towards California?” he asked.

“Your choice,” I said. “I know how you have been dying for some mountain lions.”

“You don’t mind?”

“No, mountain lions are growing on me,” I smiled. Every time we hunted mountain lions it reminded me of my first day as a vampire.

“You ready?” he asked me. I had just finished putting my hair into a tight bun.

“Yep.”

We headed toward California so that Edward could have his fill of mountain loins. It didn’t take us long to get there.

I had just finished my third mountain lion. I looked at Edward, he was starting his fourth, he looked so beautiful in the sun light.

“Not thirsty anymore?” he teased.

“You never did explain,” I said ignoring his question.

“What do you want me to explain?”

“We could have waited till tomorrow to hunt,” I said. “Why did you choose today?”

“Everyone else was taking advantage of the privacy too,” he said. “I thought we could have some privacy hunting so you wouldn’t have to go with Emmett.”

“Is that why you had a little bit of a grimace of your face right before we went in?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t really want to look at Rosalie that way, or Alice. The worst was Emmett and Jasper. I only want to see you that way.”

“What about Esme and Carlisle?”

“After I saw the others I tuned them out,” he shuddered. “Who knows what’s going on with them?”

“Only you,” I teased.

He had walked over to me while he was talking. He now put his arms around my waist and pulled my closer to him.

“You better take care of that lion,” I said. “We don’t want a vampire lion running around do we?”

“Would you care to finish it off with me?” he asked.

“If you insist,” I said.

“Oh but I do, love.”

We walked over to where the lion was. We finished him off together. Like a boyfriend and girlfriend sharing a coke, we were sharing a mountain lion.

After the lion was finished we head home. Edward and I raced each other on the way back. If I was still a newborn I might have won but I lost by a millimeter.

“I win,” Edward said.

“By a millimeter,” I snapped.

“What should my prize be?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered his theoretical question.

“I know,” he said. “How about one romantic night with you?”

“That is up to you, you won the race.”

“Edward beat Bella?” Emmett said as he bound down the steps.

“By a millimeter,” I said.

“That’s it?” He asked. “You. Me. Arm. Wrestle. Now.”

“Bring it on,” I said.

I heard Alice laugh. “This will be fun,” she said as she came and stood next to me.

“Why don’t you see who wins?” Emmett asked.

“Because that would spoil things.”

“Are we going to arm wrestle or not?” I asked Emmett.

He walked outside with me on his heals. We headed toward another bolder. This one was shaped similarly to the one we first arm wrestled on.

“Wait,” Edward said. “I’m sure Nessie would want to see this.”

He ran off into the woods. While he was gone the rest of the family came to watch. Edward was soon back. He held one of the two boys in his arms. Jacob had the other one. Nessie was right beside Jacob and trying to help him with the wiggle worm.

“Okay,” Alice said. “Esme you might need to referee?”

“Ready,” Esme said. “One, two . . . Three.”

Emmett shoved against my arm. Nothing happened. This went on for about two minutes. I decided to be nice and give him an inch.

“Yes,” he gasped. He was struggling. “I’m going to win.”

I got bored so I stretched my muscles. Emmett lost five inches not including the inch I gave him.

“Not yet,” I said. I slammed his arm into the bolder.

“One, two, three,” Esme counted. “Bella wins.”

“Yes.”

“You still got it mom,” Nessie said.

“And you better remember it.”

“I let her win,” Emmett said.

“Sure,” Alice said.

“You knew who was going to win the whole time didn’t you?” Jasper said.

Alice laughed. “Yeah, I thought Emmett would be mad if I told him who really won.”

“Who won in your vision?” Jasper asked.

“Emmett,” she said.

“I won,” Emmett asked.

“Because Bella was going to let you win,” Alice said. “But she changed her mind.”

“Did you let me win when we raced?” Edward asked.

“Yeah I let you win,” I lied.

“No you didn’t,” he saw through my lie.

Esme took the baby from Edward’s arms. Edward then wrapped his arms around me.

“Yes I did.”

He put his mouth right by my ear. “You’re lying. I beat you fare and square.”

“Fine,” I said giving up. “You won.”

“I know.”

“A century from now I’ll beat you,” Emmett said.

“You got wait a century first,” Edward defended me.

“Anyone up for a game?” Alice said.

“When?” Emmett asked.

“Fifteen minutes,” Edward said.

“Yeah,” Emmett said.

A howl came. “That’s Seth or Leah,” Jacob said.

“If it’s nothing important ask if anyone wants to play,” Emmett said.

Jacob handed the baby to Nessie. He kissed Nessie then the baby. He then went over to Esme and kissed the other baby before he went to the woods to phase.

“I imprinted on someone,” Leah said. “And he asked me to marry him today. That was what the whole howling thing was about.”

“Wow,” I said. “Congrats’”

“Thanks.”

“Are we going to play?” Emmett asked right as the thunder started.

We headed to the clearing. Alice had everything already there.

The teams were divided up by: me, Edward (of course), Emmett, Carlisle, Seth, and Embry, we were team one. Team two was: Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Jacob, Quil, and Renesmee. Esme was referring and Leah was playing with the babies.

We were bating first, because I won the arm wrestling match. Edward squeezed my hand before he went to bat. Alice lifted up her arm and through a wicked curve ball. Edward had the bat around just in time.

The bat hit the ball with amazing force. The ball went far in the out field, Rosalie dashed after it. Edward stopped at first knowing Rosalie through the ball home. In the same second Edward hit third base Jacob had the ball in his hand.

It was my turn to bat. I glared at Alice. As she through the ball she said. “You’re going down.”

“Want ‘a make a bet?” I asked as I swung the bat around and hit the ball.

I was coming up to seconded base I didn’t know if I should go for third. I pushed my shield out and glanced at Edward. I asked him a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question.

He nodded.

I went for third, and made it. “Ha,” I said.

“Dang it!” Quil said.

“Safe,” Esme called.

It was Emmett’s turn to bat.

“You’re going down,” Rosalie told him.

“We’ll see about that baby,” Emmett replied. Emmett’s arm was around in the next second. He missed the ball.

“Strike one,” Esme called.

Alice pitched the ball again this time Emmett hit it with a loud smack. He was on base three when Rosalie caught the ball.

“Out,” Esme said.

“That was so safe,” Emmett said.

“It was out,” Rosalie said.

The game continued.

Edward and I decided to leave. We wanted more alone time. I also wanted to talk to Edward about how to tell Charlie and I didn’t want Rosalie in the middle of that conversation.

“We’re going to head out,” Edward said.

“The storm just started,” Emmett said.

“Yeah, but Bella and I want to be alone,” he winked at Emmett.

“Have fun,” Emmett said.

“Emmett not that way,” I said.

“What do you mean not that way?” Edward asked.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“What are you going to do then?” Emmett asked.

“I don’t exactly want to tell you that,” I said.

“Fine,” he said.

“We will see you later,” Esme said.

Edward and I ran till they couldn’t see us anymore. We stopped in the middle of the forest. This forest reminded me of the forest right by Charlie’s house. The small trail that snaked its way around the forest and the high ferns that were just off the trail. If you went off the trail and sat on a fallen tree that was behind the ferns no one would be able to see you.

When we stopped Edward picked me off the ground and into his arms bridle style. We stood there like that for a while. When he put me back down (I jumped down he didn’t put me down) he asked me “Bella what is it?”

“I just wanted to talk to you alone,” I said “without Rosalie.”

“Okay,” he said. “Do you want to go back to the cottage or do you want to stay here and talk?”

“Can we go back to the cottage?”

“Sure.”

We went back to the cottage. Edward and I sat in our room not saying anything. I looked outside at the pond and rose bushes.

“What did you want to talk about?” Edward asked me.

“Edward, if I didn’t find out that you were a vampire on my own,” I took a deep breath before I started my train of questions. “Would you have told me what you were? If you were going to how would you have told me? When would you have told? How would you know to trust me with that secret?”

“Slow down Bella,” Edward said. “One question at a time please. What was the first question?”

“Would you have told me what you were?”

“Yes, I would,” he said. “Next question, please.”

“How would you have told me?” I asked.

“I would have told you by starting out by asking you,” he paused. “Wait, interlude, I would have started to date you as a normal human. When we would have gotten to our first kiss I would have asked you if you thought if I was anything more than human. If you did I would have asked for your theories. I would than tell you if any of your theories were close. I would then ask you if you wanted to know the truth.

“If you said yes. I would start out by telling you that who I really am is not as important as who I am as a person. I would proceed to tell you I was a vampire. I would tell you then that if you never wanted to see me again I understand, but if you did want to see me again we would stick around for a while. I would have then waited for your reaction. Next question, please.”

“When would you have told?” I asked.

“I would have told you after we started dating and when we had gotten to the point of our first kiss.”

“How would you know to trust me with that secret?”

“I knew I could trust you with mine, our, secret the moment I fell in love with you,” he said “I would have done everything in my power to make you see past the being that I am.”

I sighed.

“Is that all?” Edward asked me.

I nodded.

“Was there a reason to all those questions?”

I didn’t say anything. I was thinking over the answers that he had given me.

“Bella?” he asked. “What’s going on?”

I shook my head.

“Bella say something!”

“I . . . don’t know what to say.”

“You were trying to figure out how to tell Charlie, weren’t you?”

I nodded. “I just don’t know how too.”

“Start talking to him,” he said. “You might be surprised at his reaction.”

“What does that mean?” I asked

“It means what you think it means,” he paused. “Start talking to him you might be surprised at his reaction,” he repeated.